Gearing.



H. E. BULLOCK.

GEARING.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-26. 1914.

1,156,055. 5 Patented: Oct. 12', 1915.

2 HEETSSHEET 1.

IN VEN TOR: AZWRYZZ 30M 06/17 6 v I BY H 6 Ma/4 Arromfig WITNESSES H. E. BULLOCK.

GEARING.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.26. 1914.

1,156,055. 7 v Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

FIG. 6. I

WIT NESSES COLUMBIA FLANOORAPH :0" WASHINGTON, D. c.

HENRY E. BULLOCK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO H. E. & J". E. BULLOCK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GEARING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

Application filed September 26, 1914. Serial No. 863,778.

of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gearing; andI do hereby declare that the following description of my said invention, taken in connection with the accompanying sheets of draw-v ings, forms a full, clear, and eXact specification, which will enable others skilled in the arts to which my said invention appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has special reference to that class of gearing in which one of the.

members of a pairof gear wheels is intermittently rotated by the other member thereof. In this type of gearing there is always more or less breakage of gear teeth in either the driving, or the driven member caused by the impact of the gear teeth when the non-rotating member is started to rotate and the inertia of the machinery driven by the latter member, when set in motion.

It is the object of my present invention to overcome thisobjection and drawback, and in the drawings already mentioned, I have illustrated the preferred embodiment of the means which I employ to reach this result.

In these drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of a pair of coacting gear wheels one of which is the driver, and the other the driven, member of this set of gear wheels. Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section, the sectional portion being on the indirect line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmental view of the gear wheel showing means for cushioning the member or slide which arrests the rotation of the driven member; Fig. l is a similar view showing a modified form ofconstruetion. Fig. 5 is a detached view of the slide or block,'and Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the same on line 6-6 of Fig. 5, Fig. 7 is a side elevation of my improved gearing showing its application to a non-rotating spur gear and multiplicity'of driven gear pinions, which, in addition to rotating on their own axes, also rotate around the spur gear, planetary gear fashion. Fig. 8 is an end view, partly in section of the device illustrated in Fig. 7.

Like parts are designated by the same characters of. reference in all the figures.

A in these drawings designates a spur g ar, 9 drivi g mbe of a in o gea and B, B, one or more driven members thereof. This spur gear which is mounted on a shaft 25, is constructed torotate the driven member intermittently at predetermined intervals, and to accomplish this object the spur gear A is provided with one or more series or sections of gear-teeth or cogs, 12, 12*, etc., which, while said spur I gear is rotating, engage the driven gear B;

and a. correspondingseries of blank spaces, 13, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1.

The driven member B is mounted on a shaft 14, and upon this shaft there is mounted anieinber, 15, comprising a: hub having one or more radially projecting arms, 16, 16c, and from the flank of the spur gear project as many abutments-elements 17, 17 as there are teeth sections in the peripherv of said spur-gearA. These arms 16, 16*, have their contacting faces 18, 18 tangentially arranged, the angularity of said faces relative to a radial line passing from the center of the driven member to and beyond the point of contact with the said abutment elements being such, that, assuming the spur-gear is rotating and the first or entrance cog 19 of one of the tooth sections approaches the driven member, said driven member will be caused to rotate by the abutment member sliding on the contacting face 18 or 18 of the respective arm of member 15. The position of this abutment member is such that when the driven member starts to rotate, the first or entrance cog 19 will not touch the nearest cog of the driven member while the following cog will enter the tooth space and 'contactwith the rear fiank of said entrance cog 19. As the abutment element continues its rotation and slides on said arm of the driven member, the speed of the latter gradually increases until, when the said abutment element reaches the terminal of said arm the forward flank of the cog 20 of the tooth section contacts with the proper tooth of the driven member and then the rotation of said driven member is continued by the tooth section until the entire tooth section has passed the driven member, when the'latter will come to rest until the next abutmentelement of the succeeding tooth section reaches the" driven member, and

thereby again initiates the rotation of said driven member, as described. It will thus be seen that the abutment member, in conjunction with the arm on the driven member I leads the gearing gradually into mesh and that there is no blow or sudden jar delivered to. the teeth 'of either the spur gear or the driven member, and that, therefore, the breakage of gear teeth is almost, if not completely avoided. I have therefore described the gear train with reference to its causing a multiplicity of rotative movements of the gear pinion or pinions and pauses or rests between these rotative movements, for each single rotative movement of the spur gear, but I desire it understood that any other relation between the driver and the driven gear may be attained within the compass of either the driving or the driven gear wheel. I have also described the act-ion of the gearing in connection with one driven member, but I desire it to be understood that my invention is not confined to a single driven member and that a multiplicity of such driven members as shown, may be located around the driving gear, and be rotated intermittently by the spur gear. I have, furthermore, described the spur-gear as being a rotating member, but, it is evi dent, that this spur-gear may be non-rotat ing and that the driven members may, in addition to rotating on their own axes, be also rotating around the spur-gear, planetary gear fashion, without changing, or departing from the scope of my invention.

In view of the fact that owing to the inertia and centrifugal force of the rotating driven members, these members may not always stop at a predetermined position to be re-rotated at the proper time, it is desirable that the rotative movement of these driven members be positively arrested at a predetermined position. Various means may be resorted to to accomplish this result. The preferred means, however, which I have found absolutely positive, comprises, between each section of the gear teeth, a blank guide-way or track, 21, the periphery of which is smooth and approximately even with the crowns of the teeth in the teeth sections. On the shaft 14, of the driven member there is secured adjacent to, or formed integrally with the driven member, a slide or block, 22, having a plurality of curved faces, 23, the arcs of which correspond to the curvature of the guiding track. This latter track projects from the flank of the tooth section of the driving gear wheel, as shown in Fig. 2, and the operation of this checking device is as follows: Assume that the spur gear is the driver and the pinion with its sliding block is the driven member. When the spur gear teeth section has rotated the driven member until the last tooth 24 of the driver clears the correspond ing tooth of the driven member, the sliding block 22 has reached the laterally-projecting track 21, and hence, is immediately arrested and further rotation of the driven member prevented, until the terminal of this portion of the track is reached and the sliding block is liberated. This point of liberation is at the beginning of the succeeding teeth section; and this operation is repeated often as there are teeth sections in the driving gear.

In order to avoid the slide or block 22 striking the track 21 with a heavy blow when the driven member is rotating rapidly, and suddenly stopped, I provide means for cushioning this blow. Thus, in Fig. 3, I have shown at the advancing terminal of said track, a resilient member 27, including a movable block backed by a spring 28; and in Fig. l, I have illustrateda resilient member including a pivoted section of the track 21, backed up by a spring, 30. In Figs. 5 and 6 I have depicted this cushion as applied to the slide 22, by providing the latter with the movable blocks 27 and springs 28, similar to these parts as shown in Fig. 3. By the introduction of these devices the action of the gearing is practically a silent one, and the blow delivered by the rotating block upon the track is cushioned and breakage avoided.

As an example ofthe application of this invention in the arts, I will here mention cotton pickers in which a multiple series of intermittently rotating picking spindles are employed, which spindles are rotated through the intermedium of driven members substantially like the ones described and shown in Figs. 7 and 8. In this case the gear wheel A is fixedly connected by any suitable means 3% to a member C, of said cotton picker, and the driven members B are mounted on the shafts 14 to rotate in a disk D, secured to the main driving shaft 25, said disk D having a multiplicity of bearings, 32, in which the shafts 14: are journaled. The mechanism shown performs its function of intermittent rotation of the driven members, and the initiation of their rotation, in the same manner as hereinbefore described. In these Figs. 7 and 8, the central shaft 25 which is the main driving shaft, has bearing in the said member C, and carries at the outside of said member means, not shown, for rotating said main shaft 25, and with it, the disk D. The pinions B, slides 22, and the members 15, are all secured to the driven shafts 14, as hereinbefore explained.

The cylinders of reciprocating printingpress platens may be rotated intermittently in the same manner; and many other uses of this device will readily suggest themselves to a person skilled in the art to which this invention appertains.

While I have hereinbefore shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I desire it to be understood that changes in the details of construction and e the arrangement of the parts may be made by persons skilled in the arts to which my said invention appertains, without departing from the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus fully described this invention, I claim as new and desire to secure to myself by Letters Patent of the United States- 1. In gearing, the combination, of a driving shaft, a spur gear wheel mounted on said driving shaft, there being on the face of said gear wheel a series of gear teeth, and one or more blank spaces between these series of gear teeth, a further shaft, a gear pinion mounted on said shaft, a driven mem her on said latter shaft, said driven member comprising a substantially cylindrical body, said body being provided with an arm having a contacting face, said face being tangentially disposed with reference to said body, and an abutment element projecting from one of the flanks of said spur gear wheel, said abutment element having a contacting face constructed to coact with the contacting face of the said arm on the driven member.

2. In gearing, the combination, of a driving shaft, a spur gear wheel mounted on said driving shaft, there being on the face of said spur gear wheel a series of gear teeth, and a blank space between the terminal, and the entrance, teeth of said gear teeth, a further, driven shaft, a gear pinion mounted on said shaft constructed to mesh with the teeth section of the spur gear wheel, a driven member on said driven shaft comprising a substantially cylindrical body having an arm projecting therefrom, said arm having a contacting face tangent to said body, an abutment member on said spur gear wheel constructed to engage the contacting face of said arm, a curved track projecting from one flank of said spur gear wheel adjacent to the blank space between the gear teeth section, and a slide mounted on the driven shaft in alinement with the curved track aforesaid, constructed to engage said curved track to positively prevent said gear pinion from rotation while the blank space between said gear teeth section is passing said gear pinion.

3. In gearing, the combination, of a mutilated driving member, of a driven member constructed to be intermittently rotated by said driving member, auxiliary means to initiate the rotation of said driven member independently of the means employed to rotate said driven member, means constructed to arrest the rotative movement of said driven member at a predetermined point or position and resilient means in connection with said gearing constructed to yield when said rotative movement of the driven memher is suddenly arrested.

4. In gearing, the combination, with a mutilated gear wheel, of a gear pinion constructed to be intermittently rotated by said gear wheel, auxiliary means constructed to initiate the rotative movement of said pinion independently of the means employed for rotating said pinion, means for positively arresting the rotative movement of said pinion at a predetermined position, and means connected with said gearing constructed to yield when the rotative movement of said pinion is suddenly arrested, and to absorb the momentum of said gear pinion.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of September 1914, in the presence of a subscribing witness.

HENRY E. BULLOCK.

Witness MICHAEL J. STARK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

